Kate Douglass and Hubert Kos gave the world records a scare in the finals of the 200m breaststroke and 200m backstroke, respectively, while Great Britain
Women’s 100m freestyle - Marrit Steenbergen follows up Paris disappointment with another World Championship gold
Last year in Paris, Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands left without a medal. In her best event, the 100m freestyle, Steenbergen entered the Games as the number one swimmer in the world after she won the World title in 2024. But in Paris, she only managed seventh.
Flash forward a year later, after taking about four months out of the pool post Paris, Steenbergen is again a World champion - her 52.55 makes her the fourth woman to win back to back World titles in the event.
Steenbergen, age 25, shifted her mindset from ‘racing for a medal’ to ‘racing for fun’ this year, and it paid off on Friday night.
“Well, when you’re in the call room, you do want to get that medal,” Steenbergen said. “But I just tried to come out there and enjoy it as much as I can. I looked for my parents in the stands, I looked for my team - just those small things I tried to do always before a race. Just try to enjoy racing in a Worlds final because that’s not what you do every day. To come out with a medal, that’s just the best feeling.”
Fresh off two 51 splits in relays this week, Steenbergen took down the 200m champ Mollie O’Callaghan (52.67) of Australia and the Olympic silver medalist Torri Huske (52.89) of the United States.
“After the relay, I knew I was in a good shape,” Steenbergen said. “But I was getting more nervous throughout the week. Tonight, I was feeling it a bit, I just tried to keep myself calm. To race the girls here, it’s always like, I want to win, but they’re so good, you know? I just tried to do my best and that’s what I tried to think about.”
Huske led the first 50 meters, turning at 25.16 with Steenbergen and O’Callaghan just 0.18 behind. Steenbergen, known for taking on a big lineup at these championships, having swum 19 races at the 2023 Worlds, used her aerobic training background to come home in 27.21, the fastest in the field.
O’Callaghan, the champion from Budapest 2022 and Fukuoka 2023, was unable to become the first woman to win a third World title in the event, finishing second for her fourth medal in Singapore. This is also O’Callaghan’s 16th career medal at the World Aquatics Championships, the most for any Australian swimmer in history.
“I haven't had the greatest preparation towards this and to do what I did tonight and last night and the nights before, I'm pretty proud,” O’Callaghan said. “To be on the podium is something special and I'm always grateful for that. Obviously, I would love to win, everyone would love to win, and that's what I could do tonight, so I'm pretty happy.”
Huske, age 23, matched her bronze from Budapest 2022, just holding off Milou Van Wijk (52.91) of the Netherlands and Daria Klepikova (52.98) for the bronze medal.
“It was definitely a rocky start, and I never had such a rollercoaster of a meet before,” Huske said. “But I’m really proud of not just that swim but my prelims and semis as well, and that I was able to get back to normal. So I was really proud about that.”
France’s Beryl Gastaldello (53.30) finished sixth with a lifetime best ahead of China’s Cheng Yujie (53.34) and Italy’s Sara Curtis (53.41).
Men’s 200m breaststroke - Qin Haiyang stuns from the outside
You have a lane and you have a chance. China’s Qin Haiyang, who qualified last into tonight’s final and was hardly thought of as a gold medal favorite coming in, stunned the field to win the gold from lane eight at 2:07.41.
“That’s so amazing,” Qin said. “Have you heard of the Lane 8 miracle? You saw it tonight.”
Qin, coached by Michael Bohl, is the world record holder and the champ from Fukuoka 2023, but he’s been a bit of a question mark in the 200m breast since setting that world record, finishing out of the final in Paris. He was ranked third in the world this year, but he didn’t look as sharp at this meet.
“I did think about this happening,” Qin said. “I mentioned yesterday that my form is not at my peak, and I still need to strategise my races more. But I didn’t think too much about it today. Making the final is already a good result for me, so I just came and gave it my all.”
The eighth place in the semi didn’t help his chances either, but he swam the race to win, and followed through in front of the large number of Chinese supporters in attendance in Singapore. Qin was fifth at the 50m, fourth at the 100m, and third at the 150m turn, before coming home in 33.35 to win the gold.
“Swimming in Lane 8… you don’t feel as much pressure,” Qin said. “You can’t see many of the other swimmers, and you can focus more on what you want to do.”
Japan’s Ippei Watanabe, racing in his fourth 200m breast Worlds final at age 28, returned to the podium after two bronzes in Budapest 2017 and Gwangju 2019, winning silver here at 2:07.70. Watanabe is the former world record holder and looked to make a cinderella comeback to the top of the podium, but it wasn’t meant to be for the man coached by Naoki Takashiro.
“I thought I would be happier, but all I feel is frustration,” Watanabe said. “Honestly, I could have won. It was a race I had to win. Qin Haiyang didn’t look like he was in particularly good shape, to be honest, but he made it into the final in the outside lane, finishing 8th in the semifinals, and I found that unsettling. I figured he would go all-out from lane 8 in a do-or-die kind of race, and while I was focused on swimming my own race, losing to Qin is what frustrates me most.”
Watanabe, who was the first man to swim 2:06 eight years ago, timed his race nearly perfectly, turning seventh at the 100m wall, splitting 32.25 on the third 50m before coming home in 33.85 at the end to win silver.
“In terms of stroke length and stroke tempo for the 200m, I think I’m swimming at a world-class level in terms of efficiency,” Watanabe said. “The sprint-focused training I did since the nationals really helped me in the final 50 meters. However, I did get a bit sloppy at the end. That said, I think I was able to keep a good rhythm and exertion level in my 200m strokes, which is one of my strengths. I still need to sharpen that even more. When it comes to the 50m and 100m, I’m still far behind the world’s top swimmers in terms of PBs, so I know I need to close that gap too.”
Caspar Corbeau (2:07.73) came home in 33.46 on the last 50m to win bronze, matching his medal from Paris 2024 and backing up his silver from Doha 2024 as he swam a lifetime best tonight at age 24. Corbeau had a bit of an interrupted preparation for these championships, changing coaches to Ray Looze at Indiana University in January, before returning home to Amsterdam to swim with coach Kees Robbertsen. Corbeau won the second medal of the night and the third of these championships for the Dutch.
“It feels great,” Corbeau said. “It's always nice to be able to swim here in general and at a world championships against some of the best in the world. And to finish off my individual races with a medal, it's pretty special.”
The race looked to be stolen by American AJ Pouch, who turned with the lead at 150 meters, but he came home in 35.53, the slowest amongst the finalists, to finish fifth at 2:09.13. Pouch was looking to be the first American champion in this event since Brendan Hansen twenty years ago in Montreal 2005 as that is the second longest gold medal drought in any men’s event at the World Aquatics Championships for the Americans.
Kirill Prigoda (2:07.99) finished fourth ahead of Japan’s Yamato Fukasawa (2:09.21), who had the fastest time of anyone in the world this year at this meet, and the World Short Course champ Carles Coll Marti (2:09.44) of Spain, who had the lead at 50 and 100 meters.
Aleksandr Zhigalov also swam in the final but was disqualified.
Men’s 200m backstroke - Hubert Kos throws stones at Peirsol’s record to follow Olympic gold
It looked for a moment that Aaron Peirsol’s world record of 1:51.92 from Rome 2009 had a chance of falling on Friday night. When Hungary’s Hubert Kos flipped under Peirsol’s pace at 100 and 150 meters, a big finish was expected. Kos has been known for his big finish, doing so when he won the World title in Fukuoka 2023 and last year’s Olympic gold in Paris 2024.
When Kos, coached by Bob Bowman, flipped under world record pace with a 50m to go, another big finish was expected. But the pace proved too much for Kos, who came home in 29.95 to break the European record at 1:53.19 to move to fourth all-time. This is also the fastest anyone has swam 200 meters of backstroke in 14 years.
I’ve given it all, left everything in the pool,” Kos said. “Could have been better, but after the tough session I had yesterday with the 200 IM, this was all I could swim. A full second better than my PB, a new European record - I know I should be more joyful but, excuse me to say this, but I threw up my lunch after the final, right in the mixed zone, so I’m in the middle of my recovery now. Of course, it’s good to win another world title, I’m proud of that, also to have two medals at the Worlds, a first for me. But all I see now is that the guys are getting better, faster so I need to work really hard. They are closing the gap, I am getting closer to the World Record, both give me great motivation for the coming months.”
South Africa’s Pieter Coetze (1:53.36) continued the meet of his life in winning the silver medal and breaking the African record to now sit seventh all-time. Coetze, the World Junior champion from 2022, followed up his gold in Tuesday’s 100m backstroke with silver here.
“It means a lot,” Coetze said. “I just wanted to get on the podium today and swim my best, and I had a big time drop from last night. So, I'm over the moon with that swim, even though I wanted the gold. And it was so close, but no complaints.
“I executed it how I wanted to. Hubert was just very good today, and he deserved the win tonight. I could see that he was ahead of me, and I felt like I was catching up in the end. If there were just 10 more metres, maybe I could have won, but if my grandma had wheels, she'd be a bicycle.”
France’s Yohann Ndoye-Brouard also continued his dream meet with bronze, matching his effort from the 100m in swimming 1:54.62. This is a big swim for the 25-year-old as he hasn’t made a 200m back final.
“I’m very happy, because now the level of my 100 is the same as my 200,” Ndoye-Brouard said. “It’s the first time that I can be successful at the top level in both races.”
Ndoye-Brouard is building up a big medley relay for France later in the week where the gold medal may be theirs to lose, adding in Leon Marchand on breaststroke and Maxime Grousset on butterfly.
Canada’s Blake Tierney finished fourth at 1:55.09 as he had a big breakout meet this week, moving from 22nd in the world rankings amongst those qualified to fourth in the final at age 23. His swim just missed his national record he set at this meet but he was ahead of Greece’s Apostolos Siskos (1:55.13), and Czechia’s Jan Cejka (1:55.37).
Last year’s Olympic bronze medalist Roman Mityukov (1:55.57) finished seventh ahead of the silver medalist from Budapest 2022 in Luke Greenbank (1:56.26) of Great Britain.
Women’s 200m breaststroke - Kate Douglass wins third gold for American women
Racing against the world record holder Evgeniia Chikunova, American Kate Douglass nearly swam the fastest time of all-time in winning the 200m breaststroke at 2:18.50. It was her first swim inside 2:19 as the Olympic champion set the pace early, out in a hard 1:06.54 in the first 100 meters.
“I definitely think my race plan in this particular event has been to try to go out 1:06,” Douglass said. “I know that my back half isn't as strong as others, so I think it's important for me to get out fast. And I know I had the ability to do that, especially with my 100m getting better this meet, I felt like I was capable of going out faster.”
Douglass, the silver medalist from the 100m, didn’t give any room to Chikunova on the third length, with the American splitting 35.61 to Chikunova’s 35.49 as she couldn’t breach the gap Douglass created.
The 24-year-old American, coached by Todd DeSorbo at the University of Virginia, broke the American record to move to second all-time as she won the United States its fifth gold medal at these championships this week in Singapore.
“That win was huge,” Douglass said. “I wanted to just get a gold for Team USA to help our medal count there and I think with the rough week that we’ve had, I think we’ve done a great job of coming back and showing that we are here to race.”
Chikunova won silver at 2:19.96 at age 21.
“That last 50, I was pretty much howling inside, thinking, ‘God, I will never swim these 200s again!’” Chikunova said. “But I always say that. We have a complicated relationship with that race. So I’m content. At this time, in the condition I’m in, I think I did all that I could.”
There was a tie for bronze with South Africa’s Kaylene Corbett (2:23.52) and Alina Zmushka (2:23.52), who turned in identical times from lanes one and two, respectively. It was an emotional moment for both of them as it was both their first medal at the World Aquatics Championships.
“I don't think I have the vocabulary to explain how this medal feels,” Corbett said. “In the past, since 2019, I've been in the top eight in the world. So, to finally break into the podium (places) has been a huge relief for me. I'm just really, really proud. I wish Tatjana SMITH (RSA) was there on the podium with me. But I mean, since she's retired, I must say that it means a lot to me to know that I've been racing with her for literally forever. So it definitely helped a lot.”
“I didn't believe it at first,” Zmushka said. “I was looking up to see what place I got and when I saw it, it was such a thrill, a surprise – a great surprise – and I was boundlessly happy. I have been working for this for a long time. When I was on the podium, I finally believed and felt it, this thrill and these amazing emotions that I hope everybody can experience one day."
Great Britain’s Angharad Evans, who turned third at 150 meters, finished fifth at 2:24.21 ahead of Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova (2:24.25), Ireland’s Ellie Mc Cartney (2:25.22), and Denmark’s Clara Rybak-Andersen (2:25.36).
Men’s 4x200m freestyle - Great Britain remain the 4x2 kings
It was perhaps the most exciting race of the night. Six teams in the final had a legit shot at a medal and the top four teams were all separated by less than a second and a half after seven minutes of racing.
The world record of 6:58.55 will remain for one more year but the race for the gold didn’t leave fans of swimming unhappy. Great Britain, for the third straight year, won the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay with the team of Matthew Richards (1:45.37), James Guy (1:45.00), Jack McMillan (1:45.65) and Duncan Scott (1:43.82). It is also the first medal for the British this week in Singapore.
“It means the world to us,” Richards said. “That's the third year in a row, Worlds 2023, Olympics last year, and then Worlds again this year where we've managed to win this race every time, which is a huge achievement. It's something that you can almost take for granted at times, the dominance we've had in that event.
“I think every single time it gets harder and harder to try and defend that title, so I think we've all got to be so proud of ourselves, all four of us and the boys this morning, putting in those performances and getting ourselves on the top of that podium again. The best way to describe it is that we're all buzzing.”
Great Britain led the majority of the competitive race, only getting passed on the third leg by American Luke Hobson, who split 1:43.45 on the third leg to give the Americans the opportunity to pull the upset of the meet. But Scott’s 1:43 on the anchor, the only other sub-1:44 in the field, pulled the British in front, leaving the Americans to fight for the silver and bronze.
“ Any time that Duncan's going in with a sniff of a chance at a podium, you've got to have some confidence,” Richards said. “Not to boost his ego too much, but anytime that we see him going in and we've handed over a position for him to get us on top of the podium, we've got the utmost faith in him to get the job done. I think tonight he put in a filthy split again at 1.43 to seal the deal. And I think it's just a testament to the athlete he is and the pedigree he's got in this event and relays in general.”
Ultimately, the silver went to China, who had a monstrous anchor leg from Zhang Zhanshuo (1:44.20), as the team of Ji Xinjie (1:46.22), Pan Zhanle (1:44.41), Wang Shun (1:46.08) and Zhang broke the Asian record at 7:00.91.
“In a relay, the result is the combined effort of everyone involved,” Zhang said. “I merely did my part to swim my best, I didn’t want to let my teammates down.”
The majority of the crowd in Singapore was cheering for the Chinese as the sound got deafening when Zhang touched the wall with the silver.
“It’s good that when you are competing overseas you can feel this amount of support for the Chinese team,” Wang said. “It really helped us perform well and we gave our best today.”
Australia won the bronze at 7:00.98 with the young team of Flynn Southam (1:45.85), Charlie Hawke (1:45.57), Kai Taylor (1:44.64), and Max Giuliani (1:44.92). All four of them were born between 2002 and 2005 as the green and gold have swum well this week in Singapore.
“I think I could have been a little bit better,” Giuliani said. “But I mean, we’ve come away with a bronze and we’re such a young team. I think we’re all a real threat in the future. We’re all like 20, 22, 21, we’ve got a lot left in us. I think come 2028, we’re going to be a real force to be reckoned with.”
The Americans were out-touched for a medal, finishing fourth at 7:01.24 with the team of Henry McFadden (1:46.09), Gabriel Jett (1:45.88), Hobson (1:43.45), and Rex Maurer (1:45.82) as the team hasn’t missed the podium in that event at the World Aquatics Championships since Perth 1998. Hobson’s split equals Scott’s 1:43.45 from Tokyo 2020 as it matches the fastest split anyone has done in 12 years.
“They’re such a good team, they’re good regardless and coming fourth in the world is still pretty amazing,” Southam said of the Americans. “They have a pretty young team, we definitely cannot count them out for the future. I think everyone’s going through a lot of adversity this year, and it’s just showing that we adapt and overcome whatever comes our way.”
Korea (7:02.29), France (7:03.69), Italy (7:05.54), and Israel (7:06.76) also swam in the final with notable splits from Leon Marchand (1:44.34), Kim Woo-min (1:44.66), Hwang Sun-woo (1:45.26), and Daniel Krichevsky (1:45.60).
Semis wrap
Women’s 800m freestyle
American Katie Ledecky (8:14.62) and Canadian Summer McIntosh (8:19.88) each cruised through their respective heats in Friday’s 800m freestyle as they will go at it tomorrow night in the race of the championships. Ledecky has six 800m freestyle World titles to her name and set the world record earlier this year in a magical swim in Fort Lauderdale.
But her hands will be full with McIntosh, who nearly broke Ledecky’s world record at the Canadian Trials in June. McIntosh, already the winner of three gold medals this week in Singapore, is expected to give Ledecky all she can handle in a race where the world record could fall. If McIntosh is to break Ledecky’s world record, it would be the first time since July 2013 that the 800m freestyle world record is not in Ledecky’s name.
“My goal was to just win my heat to pretty much secure that I’ll get a lane for tomorrow night’s final,” McIntosh said. “To do that with the least amount of energy possible, I mean I felt pretty good in the water but I wasn’t really focused on the time or anything like that. I’ve never really done 800 heats before so I didn’t really know what to expect but I’m just glad it’s over and done with now.”
McIntosh is seeded third behind Australian Lani Pallister (8:17.06), who won bronze in the 1500m freestyle and was fourth in the 400m. Pallister is having a career year and will be with McIntosh and Ledecky at the 400m turn - the question remains if she can hang on to that pace at the end.
Italy’s Simona Quadarella (8:20.47) is seeded fifth after winning silver in the 1500m freestyle in the fastest non-Ledecky performance in history.
Germany’s Isabel Gose (8:20.21) is seeded fourth ahead of New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather (8:22.22), China’s Li Bingjie (8:23.23) and Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto (8:27.51).
Chile’s Kristel Kobrich, competing in her 13th career World Aquatics Championships, the most for any swimmer in history, placed 18th at 8:39.78, just eight days before her 40th birthday.
“I’m just a little bit tired, but I need to rest and try to figure it out and take this a different way to make sure the next year so I’m good for the next World Championships,” Kobrich said. “I have to figure out what I have to do with my trainer and my coach and do it a little bit different so we don’t make the same mistake.”
Kobrich is showing no signs of stopping, having swum at every World Aquatics Championships since Barcelona 2003, as she would make it 14 Worlds if she is to race in Budapest 2027.
“I will try to get to another Olympic Games, but I need to do other things first, so step by step.”
Men’s 100m butterfly
In one of the most intriguing finals of the entire week where the world record could fall to the winner, Switzerland’s Noe Ponti (50.18) qualified fastest for tomorrow’s final as the short course meters world record holder is looking to take down Caeleb Dressel’s 49.45 world record from Tokyo 2020. After Ponti won his first career World Aquatics Championships medal in long course in Monday’s 50m butterfly, he appears to be swimming freely which could be dangerous for anyone trying to beat him.
Canada’s Josh Liendo (50.24) is seeded second after he split 49.6 in Wednesday’s mixed medley relay, ahead of 50m butterfly champ Maxime Grousset (50.25) of France. Grousset is the World champ from Fukuoka 2023 and looking to improve on his fifth place finish in Paris last year.
Canada’s Ilya Kharun (50.39) is also a dark horse here as the Olympic bronze medalist missed the final in the 50m butterfly earlier in the week despite coming in with the fastest time in the world. He is ahead of Italy’s Thomas Ceccon (50.42), who is racing in his first career 100m butterfly final.
Australia’s Matthew Temple (50.83) is sixth ahead of Andrei Minakov (50.87), who won silver back in Gwangju 2019, and Austria’s Simon Bucher (50.88) in the first final where it took faster than 51 seconds to qualify.
Notably, last year’s champion Diogo Ribeiro (51.21) of Portugal finished 12th and out of the final. The final will also go on without any Americans as one of the pre-race medal favorites, Shaine Casas, finished 19th at 51.66.
Women’s 200m backstroke
China’s Peng Xuwei (2:07.76) swam to the top time in the semis ahead of Anastasiya Shkurdai (2:07.85).
The race is expected to play out between the last three champions in this event - defending champion Claire Curzan (2:08.13) of the United States, 2022 and 2023 champion Kaylee McKeown (2:08.36) of Australia and 2019 champ Regan Smith (2:08.67) of the United States.
McKeown and Smith finished with gold and silver in Tuesday’s 100m backstroke final and in last year’s Olympics in this event as they sit #1 and #2 all-time. Curzan is the second fastest swimmer in the world this year and could challenge as well. The United States and Australia have won the last eight World titles in this event and it would be a huge upset if that streak was broken tomorrow night.
Germany’s Lise Seidel (2:08.75) is seeded sixth ahead of China’s Liu Yaxin (2:09.04) and Hungary’s Dora Molnar (2:09.09).
Men’s 50m freestyle
Australia’s Cameron McEvoy (21.30) and Jack Alexy (21.32) of the United States were separated by 0.02 in the semis and will meet in tomorrow’s final in between the yellow lane lines. McEvoy, the Olympic champion and the champ from Fukuoka 2023, is taking aim at Cesar Cielo’s 20.91 world record from 2009 as he is fourth all-time in the event.
Alexy, age 22, swam his lifetime best in qualifying second ahead of Serbia’s Andrej Barna (21.45).
Egor Kornev (21.51), who was fifth in the 100m final, qualified fourth ahead of Italy’s Leonardo Deplano (21.59) and 2022 World champ Ben Proud (21.61) of Great Britain.
Santo Condorelli (21.68), who won a swim-off to get into the semis this morning, qualified seventh for the United States.
Korea’s Ji Yu-chan (21.77) won a swim-off for eighth over Israel’s Meiron Cheruti (21.77) for the last spot in the final. Ji broke the Asian record in the swim-off at 21.66 as he is the first Korean to make a major final in the 50m freestyle.
Notably, last year’s champion Vladyslav Bukhov (21.82) of Ukraine finished 13th and did not advance to the final.
Women’s 50m butterfly
American Gretchen Walsh swam 25.09 in the semis to lead the field over 100m silver medalist Roos Van Otterdijk (25.32) of Belgium as those two will battle once more in tomorrow’s final. Walsh, already the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly, is the second fastest performer all-time in the 50m as the United States has never had a champion in this event at the World Aquatics Championships. In fact, the Americans only have two medals in this event all-time - Walsh’s bronze from Fukuoka 2023 and Jenny Thompson’s silver from Barcelona 2003.
Also of note, tomorrow’s final will be without Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who has won the last six World titles in this event and is currently pregnant with her first child.
South Africa’s Erin Gallagher (25.39) qualified third ahead of Australia’s Alexandria Perkins (25.52) and Arina Surkova (25.54).
Italy’s Silvia di Pietro (25.58), Australia’s Lily Price (25.61) and Germany’s Angelina Kohler (25.62) also qualified for tomorrow’s final.
Notably, American Kate Douglass (25.74), just a few minutes after her gold in the 200m breaststroke, finished 14th and out of the final.